hey gents. im new here and have been trying to shave with a straight for about 2 months now. i have a Dovo (nothing fancy) razor, a supper badger brush, and 2 kinds of soaps. i cant find anywhere on how the lather should be...do you put as much water into it as possible while still keeping it thick? i started out with Classic Shaving soap (cheap stuff) and either im not doing it right....or their soap doesnt work for me. but i always walk away with a few small cuts. am i doing something wrong here? i take a shower then get right into making the lather. i start shaving about 10min after i get out so i dont think it has to do with my face being warm. but the soap usually....uh...feels...like its too sticky i guess....like if i lay the razor flat on my face (not sure if thats what your supposed to do but...lol) and it is like it is almost stuck to my face. no i dont make the lather on my face i use a bowl. i do that because im trying to understand the lather but of course im failing. should i also have the lather on my face for a while and work it into the pours? anyway....any feed back would be great. thanx guys. oh yeah and the other soap (cream actually) is Taylor Of Old Bond Street.
here is a video that might help.. also mantic has some videos on You tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIsj58fqVjY
Zach, as far as I'm concerned, really overloads his brush. You'll note Mantic does a few swirls, which is how I do it - sufficient lather for more than 3 passes, bowl-mixed. Do whatever works for you. Wet your brush, shake the excess, swirl it atop of the soap and go to a bowl or to your face with it. From there add water till you've a lather that looks like what you can get a can.
Couldn't agree more. I think the biggest down side to watching the videos is that they fail to recognize a few things: not everyone has the same type of brush (badger, boar, synthetic (even within those types there are differences)); not everyone has the same size of brush; different types of brushes and different sizes of brushes will hold different amounts of water; not everyone has the same type of water (some areas have soft water that makes lathering a WHOLE lot easier than hard water); not everyone may be using the same type of soap or cream, again, different soaps and different creams require different amounts of water to get that elusive perfect water/soap ratio So I repeat the words of Kaveh, "Do whatever works for you." You'll only find out what works through trial and error, and lots of practice. Oh, by the way, a big TSD welcome to you!
Basically, one can't ask for the right amount of water/soap and what you're trying to archive is a lather that a) is not too bublby. b) is not too dry. Practice is the name of the game here. The consistency? Well, you want something creamy, as someone told me : Don't think of Whip Cream, think of yogurt. My lather is not perfect but I can give you a couple of advises. 1. Don't think "But in the video he did X number of swirls" 2. Don't think "But in the video they Y amount of water" 3. Don't think "But in the video the brush looks like that" Grab the basic concepts of the video and start practicing 1. Swirl as much as you need to get "the stuff you wanna shave with, nice and thick, extremely cushioning" (Yogurt like) 2. You use water, the amount? well as everyone says: start with a little and slowly ad something like a 1/4 tblspoon and keep swirling until you get yogurt (Don't eat it). You don't need to do exactly as Zach in the video, I'm pretty sure in fact that he built that much useless lather just to show you the difference. And remember: you can always add more water once you're lathering your face I hope this helps you Oh and check out my thread which is something like a "how not to" : Lathering Tips
All good information, I think I am almost ready to think about trying. I have shaved for almost 10 years, and now I find out that I have never shaved once. So very sad really.
Trust me, that is an experience a lot of us had when we got the information from TSD And what an enjoyment it is, now you know what to do and it works out for you........ Shaving is a true pleasure, not an every day burden
Folks, I have the same reaction as boyextraordinare. I felt that he had too much lather on the brush and I think too much lather on his hand. My feeling is that if a lather is standing out 1/2 inch from your face then what good is it doing. I prefer a closer, creamier lather that gives cushion and glide, provides easy coverage for the face and the facial hair so that it can soften the hair enough to be easily removed and give it enough slip so that the razor glides easily over the skin. That being said, he was right in that you need to do whatever works of you!
